'In their introduction to this collection, David Stephens and Alison Broinowski distinguish between ‘honest history’, the concept, and ‘honest history’, the coalition: a group of (mostly) historians disturbed at the unbalanced mobilisation of Australia's past for political purposes. The Honest History Book is a reflection of that coalition and its concerns. Here, ‘dishonest history’ resides largely in politicians’ persistent and exaggerated emphasis on the importance of Anzac in the making of Australia, otherwise termed ‘Anzackery’. The book's stated aim is to provide a perspective on Australian history in which the significance of war and the Anzac tradition is reduced, and drawn in proportion to other major themes in the national past.' (Introduction)
